The names have been announced for this year’s Las Vegas Boxing Hall Of Fame; with greats including “Sugar” Shane Mosley, Kevin Kelley, Laila Ali and Earnie Shavers set to be enshrined in the month of August. There are a number of legends set to be posthumously inducted; including Aaron Pryor and Henry Armstrong, along with trainer Bill Miller (the man the great James Toney says is THE finest boxing trainer who ever lived).
Earnie Shavers
Who hit harder: George Foreman? Earnie Shavers? Ron Lyle? Cleveland Williams? – one man who fought ’em all gives his take
What was it like to have been hit on the chin by heavyweight power-punchers George Foreman, Earnie Shavers, Cleveland Williams and Ron Lyle? There is one man who today can, in a quite unique perspective, be able to say what it was indeed like to have faced these monsters. His name is not overly familiar, but New Orleans heavyweight Leroy Caldwell, who fought as a pro in the 1960s,’70s and ’80s, quite literally ‘fought ’em all’ (Caldwell the only living man to have fought Foreman, Shavers and Williams).
Earnie Shavers: The man who finished “The Greatest”
Called by many the hardest heavyweight puncher in history, Earnie Shavers made his pro debut in November 1969, with a second round KO over one Silas Johnson. Johnson became the first of a number of fighters to be knocked flat or stopped, that number would eventually total 67.
Earnie Shavers: Pure Power, Pure Punching, Pure Passion
Having just read another article on heavyweight punching legend Earnie Shavers (this fascinating piece on Ringtv.com), I wanted to put up my own piece on “The Acorn,” a man who was once dubbed “The Puncher of The Century.”
I’ve had the privilege of speaking with the 1970’s and early ’80’s heavyweight terror a number of times and here he kindly lists for me his top-three all-time heavyweight punchers; as well as telling me how he feels he would have done – in his pure-punching, zinging prime – against fellow legends, Tyson, Foreman, Liston and today’s kings, the Klitschkos.